Proximity payment devices are in widespread use. A well known standard for proximity payment devices has been promulgated by MasterCard International Incorporated, the assignee hereof, and is referred to as “PayPass”. A proximity payment device often includes a wireless communication interface to transmit a payment account number and/or other information to a point of sale (POS) terminal. The wireless interface often includes a radio frequency identification integrated circuit (RFID IC) and an antenna to receive a power signal from and/or communicate with the POS terminal.
Some proximity payment devices include an EMV risk parameter that is used to help reduce and/or limit fraud and/or bad debt. The EMV risk parameter is usually incremented or decremented each time the proximity payment device is used in a purchase transaction. The proximity payment device may be usable only until the EMV risk parameter reaches a predetermined value and/or until a predetermined amount has been spent. Thereafter, the EMV risk parameter may need to be reset if the proximity payment device is to be usable in further purchase transactions.
One issue associated with the above method is how to reset the EMV risk parameter during periods of time in which the risk of fraud and/or bad debt is low, e.g., when the proximity payment device is not lost and the account is in good standing. Some systems reset the EMV risk parameter after the proximity payment device has been used in a predetermined number of transactions. In some systems, this takes place the next time that the proximity payment device is presented for a purchase transaction.
The amount of time needed to reset the EMV risk parameter is sometimes twenty to thirty seconds, which may be considerably longer than the amount of time needed for the transaction itself. If the proximity payment device has a card shape and contact terminals, the proximity payment device may be inserted into a card reader with contacts that make contact with the terminals on the card. However, some proximity payment devices do not have a card shape and thus may not be insertable into such a reader.